Integrated Circuit with Clock Distribution

ABSTRACT

An integrated circuit (10, 10a-d) is disclosed, which is configured to be connected to an antenna module (3) having multiple antenna elements (17). The integrated circuit (10, 10a-d) comprises a plurality of communications circuits (50j), each of which is configured to be connected to an antenna element (17) of the antenna module (3). It also comprises a first clock input terminal (551) configured to receive a reference clock signal from outside the integrated circuit (10, 10a-d) and a first clock-distribution network (601) connected between the first clock input terminal (551) and a first subset (651) of the communication circuits (50j). Furthermore, it comprises a second clock input terminal (552) configured to receive a reference clock signal from outside the integrated circuit (10, 10a-d) and a second clock-distribution network (601) connected between the second clock input terminal (552) and a second subset (652) of the communication circuits (50j).

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/984,533, filed Aug. 4, 2020, which is in turn a continuation of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 16/636,695, filed Feb. 5, 2020, now issuedas U.S. Pat. No. 10,775,835, which was the National Stage ofInternational Application No. PCT/EP2017/070425, filed Aug. 11, 2017,each of which is incorporated by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to reference clock signal distribution inintegrated circuits.

BACKGROUND

Antenna array systems will be a ubiquitous component in forthcoming 5G(fifth generation) communication systems as a means of improvingcapacity at the presently used low GHz frequencies but more so to ensuresufficient coverage as the operating frequency extends to the mmW range.Antenna arrays typically consists of a regular structure of equi-spacedantenna elements.

Antenna arrays can be used to simultaneously transmit or receivemultiple layers, e.g. through multiple beams in the special case ofline-of-sight (LOS) communication or more generally through the conceptof MU-MIMO (multi-user MIMO (multiple-input multiple-output)). Duringbeam forming the antenna correlation properties are important such thathighly correlated antennas may be combined coherently and therebyincreasing the transmission efficiency. Typically, adjacent antennaspresent a higher correlation than distant antenna elements.

One key parameter when designing the 5G concept is energy efficiency. Abase station may be equipped with a high number of antenna elements,even in the order of hundreds, and include a plurality of transceiverintegrated circuits (ICs). In some use scenarios, all antenna elementsand transceiver ICs might not be needed. Hence there is an opportunityto implement energy saving schemes by disabling, or inactivating, partsof the base station, sometimes even inactivating one or more completetransceiver IC.

SUMMARY

The inventors have realized that a reduced impact of reference clockphase noise can, at least for some usages, be obtained for ICscomprising multiple communication circuits (e.g. transceiver,transmitter, or receiver circuits) by means of using multiple inputterminals for reference clock signals. An example of such a usage iswhen a communication apparatus comprising multiple such integratedcircuits operates in a mode when only a subset of the ICs are enabled.

According to a first aspect, there is provided an integrated circuitconfigured to be connected to an antenna module having multiple antennaelements. The integrated circuit comprises a plurality of communicationscircuits, each of which is configured to be connected to an antennaelement of the antenna module. It also comprises a first clock inputterminal configured to receive a reference clock signal from outside theintegrated circuit and a first clock-distribution network connectedbetween the first clock input terminal and a first subset of thecommunication circuits. Furthermore, it comprises a second clock inputterminal configured to receive a reference clock signal from outside theintegrated circuit and a second clock-distribution network connectedbetween the second clock input terminal and a second subset of thecommunication circuits.

The integrated circuit may comprise additional clock input terminalsconfigured to receive reference clock signals from outside theintegrated circuit. Furthermore, for each of said additional clock inputterminals, the integrated circuit may comprise a clock-distributionnetwork connected between that clock input terminal and an associatedsubset of the communication circuits.

Said clock-distribution networks may comprise buffer amplifiersconnected in a tree structure.

Each of the plurality of communication circuits may have areference-clock input connected to an output of a buffer amplifier of aclock-distribution network.

The communication circuits may, for instance, be transceiver circuits,receiver circuits, or transmitter circuits.

The communication circuits may be configured to communicate at a commonradio frequency carrier frequency.

According to a second aspect, there is provided a communicationapparatus comprising a reference clock signal generator configured togenerate a main reference clock signal and a clock buffer circuitconfigured to receive the main reference clock signal at an inputterminal and having a plurality of output buffers, each configured tooutput a reference clock signal with the same frequency as the mainreference clock signal at an output terminal of the output buffer. Thecommunication apparatus also comprises a plurality of integratedcircuits according to the first aspect. Each output buffer of the clockbuffer circuit has its output terminal connected to at most one of theclock input terminals of the same one of the integrated circuits.

The communication apparatus may comprise an antenna module havingmultiple antenna elements, each connected to a communication circuit ofan integrated circuit among said plurality of integrated circuit.

The reference clock signal generator may, for instance, be a crystaloscillator.

In some embodiments, the communication apparatus is configured toselectively disable one or more of the plurality of integrated circuits.

In some embodiments, the communication apparatus is configured tooperate with beamforming transmission or reception.

The communication apparatus may be configured for operation in acellular communications network. For example, the communicationapparatus may be a base station.

It should be emphasized that the term “comprises/comprising” when usedin this specification is taken to specify the presence of statedfeatures, integers, steps, or components, but does not preclude thepresence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps,components, or groups thereof.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Further objects, features and advantages of embodiments of the inventionwill appear from the following detailed description, reference beingmade to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a communication environment.

FIGS. 2-4 show block diagrams.

FIGS. 5-7 illustrate examples.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 illustrates a communication environment wherein embodiments ofthe present invention may be employed. A wireless device 1 of a cellularcommunications system is in wireless communication with a radio basestation 2 (or “base station 2” for short) of the cellular communicationssystem. The wireless device 1 may be what is generally referred to as auser equipment (UE). The wireless device 1 is depicted in FIG. 1 as amobile phone, but may be any kind of device with cellular communicationcapabilities, such as a tablet or laptop computer, machine-typecommunication (MTC) device, or similar. Furthermore, a cellularcommunications system is used as an example throughout this disclosure.However, embodiments of the present invention may be applicable in othertypes of systems as well, such as but not limited to WiFi systems.

The radio base station 2 and wireless device 1 are examples of what inthis disclosure is generically referred to as communication apparatuses.Embodiments are described below in the context of a communicationapparatus in the form of the radio base station 2. However, other typesof communication apparatuses can be considered as well, such as a WiFiaccess point or WiFi enabled device.

According to the example shown in FIG. 1, the radio base station 2 isequipped with an antenna module 3, such as an antenna array comprising aplurality of antenna elements.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of (part of) the base station 2 according tosome embodiments. It comprises a reference clock signal generator 4configured to generate a main reference clock signal. For instance, thereference clock signal generator 4 may be a crystal oscillator. In FIG.2, the base station 2 further comprises a clock buffer circuit 6, whichis configured to receive the main reference clock signal at an inputterminal. The clock buffer circuit is further configured to outputbuffered reference clock signals on with the same frequency as the mainreference clock signal. FIG. 2 shows a connection 8 with multiple wiresfrom the clock buffer circuit 6. The individual wires are referred towith the reference sign 8 _(m), where m is an integer index identifyingthe individual wire. Each individual wire is dedicated to carry one ofthe buffered reference clock signals. In the embodiment illustrated inFIG. 2, the base station 2 further comprises a plurality of integratedcircuits (IC) 10 a-d, which are further described below with referenceto FIG. 3. As described below, each IC 10 a-d comprises a number ofcommunication circuits (referred to with reference signs 50 _(j), wherej is an integer index identifying an individual communication circuit),such as transmitter circuits, receiver circuits, or transceivercircuits. Each such communication circuit 50 _(j) is configured to beconnected an antenna element 17 of the antenna module 3. Reference sign17 is used herein as a general reference to the antenna elements. Forsimplicity and ease of illustration, only one of the squaresrepresenting antenna elements in FIG. 2 is provided with the referencenumber 17. The communication circuits 50 _(j) may be configured tocommunicate at a common radio frequency carrier frequency. For example,in this way, the base station 2 may be configured to operate withbeamforming or MIMO transmission or reception. The buffered referenceclock signals may be used in the ICs 10 a-d to generate local oscillator(LO) signals for up-conversion of a signal to be transmitted to theradio frequency carrier frequency and/or down-conversion of a receivedsignal from the radio frequency carrier frequency. This can for examplebe accomplished using phase-locked loops (PLLs) or other frequencysynthesizers.

As an elucidating example, which is used in this description toillustrate how embodiments disclosed herein may be advantageouslyemployed, the antenna module 3 is, in FIG. 2, conceptually divided intosub arrays 20 a-d. In the example, the antenna elements 17 in the subarray 20 a are connected to communication circuits in the IC 10 a, theantenna elements 17 in the sub array 20 b are connected to communicationcircuits in the IC 10 b, the antenna elements 17 in the sub array 20 care connected to communication circuits in the IC 10 c, and the antennaelements 17 in the sub array 20 d are connected to communicationcircuits in the IC 10 d. The base station 2 may be configured toselectively disable one or more of the plurality of integrated circuits10 a-d, e.g. to save energy. Embodiments disclosed herein can provide arelatively low impact of phase noise in the reference clock signals inscenarios where only a subset of the sub arrays 20 a-d and ICs 10 a-dare enabled.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an IC 10 according to an embodiment. Eachof the ICs 10 a-d may be implemented in the same way as the IC 10. TheIC 10 comprises a plurality of communications circuits 50 _(j), each ofwhich is configured to be connected to an antenna element 17 of theantenna module 3. Furthermore, the IC 10 comprises a first clock inputterminal 55 ₁ configured to receive a reference clock signal fromoutside the integrated circuit 10. In FIG. 3, the first clock inputterminal 55 ₁ is connected to the wire 8 ₁. The IC 10 also comprises afirst clock-distribution network 60 ₁ connected between the first clockinput terminal 55 ₁ and a first subset 65 ₁ of the communicationcircuits 50 _(j). In addition, the IC 10 comprises a second clock inputterminal 55 ₂ configured to receive a reference clock signal fromoutside the integrated circuit 10. In FIG. 3, the second clock inputterminal 55 ₂ is connected to the wire 8 ₂. Moreover the IC 10 comprisesa second clock-distribution network 60 ₂ connected between the secondclock input terminal 55 ₂ and a second subset 65 ₂ of the communicationcircuits 50 _(j). As further described below, this structure of thereference clock distribution of the IC 10, with more than one referenceclock input terminal and associated clock distribution network,facilitates a relatively low impact of reference clock phase noise insome use scenarios.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, the IC 10 may also have additional clock inputterminals, such as a third clock input terminal 55 ₃ and a fourth clockinput terminal 55 ₄, configured to receive reference clock signals fromoutside the integrated circuit 10, and for each of said additional clockinput terminals 55 ₃, 55 ₄, a clock-distribution network 60 ₃, 60 ₄connected between that clock input terminal 55 ₃, 55 ₄ and an associatedsubset, such as a third subset 65 ₃ and a fourth subset 65 ₄, of thecommunication circuits 50 _(j).

As illustrated in FIG. 2 each of said clock-distribution networks 60 ₁,60 ₂, 60 ₃, 60 ₄ may comprise buffer amplifiers 70, 80 _(k) connected ina tree structure. Each of the plurality of communication circuits 50_(j) may have a reference-clock input connected to an output of a bufferamplifier 80 _(k) of one of the clock-distribution networks 60 ₁, 60 ₂,60 ₃, 60 ₄. It should be noted that the different communication circuits50 _(j) within a subset, say 65 _(m), exhibits a slightly differentphase noise in the reference clock signals, since they are provided bydifferent buffers 80 _(k). However, the phase noise already present inthe reference clock signal received on clock input terminal 55 _(m)propagates to all communication circuits 50 _(j) in the subset 65 _(m).Thus, there is a degree of correlation in the phase noise between thereference clock signals used by the communication circuits 50 _(j)within the same subset 65 _(m).

FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of an embodiment of the clock buffercircuit 6. As illustrated in FIG. 4, the clock buffer circuit 6 may havea plurality of output buffers 90 _(m), each configured to output abuffered reference clock signal with the same frequency as the mainreference clock signal at an output terminal of the output buffer 90_(m). In the example illustrated in FIG. 4, the output buffer 90 ₁ isconfigured to output its buffered reference clock signal to the wire 8₁, the output buffer 90 ₂ is configured to output its buffered referenceclock signal to the wire 8 ₂, the output buffer 90 ₃ is configured tooutput its buffered reference clock signal to the wire 8 ₃, and theoutput buffer 90 ₄ is configured to output its buffered reference clocksignal to the wire 8 ₄. The clock buffer circuit 6 may also comprise oneor more buffers 95 connected between the reference clock signalgenerator 4 and the output buffers 90 _(m).

By using more than one clock input terminal for receiving referenceclock signals, as in embodiments herein, it is possible to reduce theimpact of phase noise. Consider, for comparison, an IC with only onesingle clock input terminal for receiving a single reference clocksignal from outside the IC, e.g. from one single output buffer, such asthe buffers 90 _(m), of a clock buffer circuit, such as the clock buffercircuit 6. In such an IC, the LO signals in all communication circuits50 _(j) have to, ultimately, be derived from that single reference clocksignal. Thus, even though there may be a clock-buffer tree between thesingle clock input terminal and the individual communication circuits 50_(j), the phase noise of said single reference clock signal is affectingall LO signals derived therefrom in the same way, resulting in arelatively high degree of phase-noise correlation between the generatedLO signals. In case different ICs of the base station use differentreference clock signals, with relatively little mutual correlation inthe phase noise, the effects of the phase noise may be suppressed byaveraging when all ICs are enabled. However, when only a subset of theICs, in the extreme case only a single IC, is enabled to save energy,the effects of the relatively highly correlated phase noise in the LOsignals within a single chip may have a detrimental impact on theoverall signal quality, e.g. in terms of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Ifinstead, as in embodiments disclosed herein, each IC 10 is equipped withmore than one clock input terminal for receiving reference clock signalsfrom the outside, the phase-noise correlation between LO signals withinthe same IC 10 can be reduced. Some degree of correlation between thereference clock signal on wire 8 ₁ and the reference clock signal onwire 8 ₂ should be expected, since they are derived from the same mainreference clock signal. However, the phase noise generated by the outputbuffer 90 ₁ is only affecting the communication circuits 50 _(j) in thesubset 65 ₁, the phase noise generated by the output buffer 90 ₁ is onlyaffecting the communication circuits 50 _(j) in the subset 65 ₁, thephase noise generated by the output buffer 90 ₂ is only affecting thecommunication circuits 50 _(j) in the subset 65 ₂, the phase noisegenerated by the output buffer 90 ₃ is only affecting the communicationcircuits 50 _(j) in the subset 65 ₃, and the phase noise generated bythe output buffer 90 ₄ is only affecting the communication circuits 50_(j) in the subset 65 ₄. Hence, overall, for each IC 10 a-d, the averagecorrelation of the LO signal phase noise between two communicationcircuits 50 _(j) on the same IC 10 a-d can be made lower when more thanone reference clock input terminal is used, compared with an IC withonly a single reference clock signal input terminal. This is furtherillustrated with examples in FIGS. 5-7 described below.

FIG. 5 illustrates the sub array 20 a according to an embodiment. Anindex i is given to each antenna element 17 _(i) of the sub array 20 a.The antenna element 17 _(i) is, in this embodiment, connected to thecommunication circuit 50 _(i) (FIG. 3) of IC 10 a. That is, antennaelement 171 is connected to the communication circuit 50 ₁, antennaelement 172 is connected to the communication circuit 502, etc. FIG. 6illustrates the resulting reference clock distribution, provided thatthe antenna elements 17 _(i) of the other sub arrays 20 b-d areconnected to the communication circuits 50 _(i) of the other ICs 10 b-daccording to the same pattern. The different fill patterns given to thedifferent antenna elements illustrate which antenna elements are drivenby what output buffer 90 _(m) in the clock buffer circuit 6. It shouldbe noted that each antenna element driven by a given output buffer 90_(m) is affected by the phase noise introduced by that output buffer 90_(m). As a comparison, FIG. 7 illustrates the corresponding situation incase each integrated circuit 10 a-d had only had a single clock inputterminal, with the clock input terminal of IC 10 a connected to theoutput buffer 90 ₁, the clock input terminal of IC 10 b connected to theoutput buffer 90 ₂, the clock input terminal of IC 10 c connected to theoutput buffer 90 ₃, and the clock input terminal of IC 10 d connected tothe output buffer 90 ₄. Consider a situation where only the sub array 20a and IC 10 a are enabled, whereas the other sub arrays 20 b-d and ICs10 b-d are disabled for saving energy. In the comparative exampleillustrated in FIG. 7, all then enabled antenna elements are affected bythe phase noise from the same output buffer 90 ₁. The phase noise amongthe enabled antenna elements therefore shows a relatively high averagemutual correlation. Hence, the resulting suppression of the effects ofphase noise due to averaging over the multiple enabled antenna elementsis relatively poor. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 6, on theother hand, the average mutual correlation of the phase noise among theenabled antenna elements is considerably lower, since only a fraction(in this case one fourth) of the enabled antenna elements are driven bythe same output buffer 90 _(m) of the clock buffer circuit 6. Therefore,the resulting suppression of the effects of phase noise due to averagingover the multiple enabled antenna elements is considerably better thanfor the comparative example illustrated in FIG. 7. Similar effects areobtained, but not to the same degree, when two or three of the subarrays are enabled. When all four sub arrays 20 a-d are enabled, theembodiment in FIG. 6 and the comparative example illustrated in FIG. 7have about the same suppression of the phase noise due to averaging overthe multiple antenna elements. However, the impact of the correlation ofphase noise between antenna elements may be expected to be larger foradjacent antenna elements than for antenna elements that are a fartherdistance apart. As a consequence, the embodiment in FIG. 6 may actuallyprovide some degree of improved suppression of the phase noise comparedwith the comparative example illustrated in FIG. 7 even when all foursub arrays are enabled.

In the examples presented above, the number of output buffers 90 _(m)and clock wires 8 _(m) are the same as the number of clock inputterminals 55 _(m). Each output buffer 90 _(m) of the clock buffercircuit 6 has its output terminal connected to exactly one of the clockinput terminals 55 _(m) of each one of the ICs 10 a-d. In otherembodiments, the number of output buffers 90 _(m) of the clock buffercircuit 6 may be higher than the number of clock input terminals 55_(m). Then, for a given one of the ICs 10 a-d, an output buffer 90 _(m)may have its output terminal to one or none of the clock input terminals50 _(m) of the given ICs 10 a-d. A formulation that covers both thescenario wherein the number of output buffers 90 _(m) is equal to thenumber of clock input terminals 55 _(m) of each one of the ICs 10 a-dand the scenario wherein the number of output buffers 90 _(m) is higherthan the number of clock input terminals 55 _(m) of each one of the ICs10 a-d is that each output buffer 90 _(m) of the clock buffer circuit 6has its output terminal connected to at most one of the clock inputterminals 55 _(m) of the same one of the integrated circuits 10 a-d.

The present invention is presented above with reference to specificembodiments. However, other embodiments than the above described arepossible within the scope of the disclosure. The different features ofthe embodiments may be combined in other combinations than thosedescribed. For example, 5G communications systems are used as an exampleenvironment in the disclosure above. However, embodiments of the presentinvention are applicable in other scenarios and environments as well.Furthermore, a base station 2 having an antenna array with 64 antennaelements 17 and four ICs 10 a-d each having four clock input terminals55 _(m) was used as an example above. These numbers of antenna elements,ICs, and clock input terminals are mere examples, and other numbers maywell be used in other embodiments.

What is claimed is:
 1. A communication apparatus comprising: a clockbuffer circuit configured to receive a main reference clock signal at aninput terminal and having a plurality of output terminals, eachconfigured to output a reference clock signal with the same frequency asthe main reference clock signal; and a plurality of integrated circuits,wherein each integrated circuit is configured to be connected to anantenna module having multiple antenna elements, wherein each integratedcircuit comprises: a first clock input terminal connected to one of theplurality of output terminals of the clock buffer circuit; and a secondclock input terminal connected to another one of the plurality of outputterminals of the clock buffer circuit.
 2. The communication apparatus ofclaim 1, wherein the output terminals are output terminals of respectiveoutput buffers, each output buffer configured to output a referenceclock signal with the same frequency as the main reference clock signalat the output terminal of that output buffer.
 3. The communicationapparatus of claim 2, wherein each output buffer has its output terminalconnected to at most one of the clock input terminals of the same one ofthe integrated circuits.
 4. The communication apparatus of claim 1,wherein each integrated circuit further comprises a plurality ofcommunication circuits, each of which is configured to be connected toan antenna element of the antenna module.
 5. The communication apparatusof claim 4, wherein each integrated circuit further comprises: a firstclock-distribution network connected between the first clock inputterminal and a first subset of the communication circuits; and a secondclock-distribution network connected between the second clock inputterminal and a second subset of the communication circuits.
 6. Thecommunication apparatus of claim 1, comprising the antenna module havingmultiple antenna elements, each connected to a communication circuit ofan integrated circuit among said plurality of integrated circuits. 7.The communication apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a referenceclock signal generator configured to generate the main reference clocksignal, wherein the reference clock signal generator is a crystaloscillator.
 8. The communication apparatus of claim 1, configured toselectively disable one or more of the plurality of integrated circuits.9. The communication apparatus of claim 1, configured to operate withbeamforming transmission or reception.
 10. The communication apparatusof claim 1, wherein the communication apparatus is configured foroperation in a cellular communications network.
 11. The communicationapparatus of claim 9, wherein the communication apparatus is a basestation.
 12. The communication apparatus of claim 10, wherein thecommunication apparatus is a base station.
 13. The communicationapparatus of claim 1, wherein the communication apparatus is a wirelessdevice.
 14. The communication apparatus of claim 13, wherein thewireless device is a mobile phone, a tablet, a laptop computer, or amachine-type communication (MTC) device.
 15. The communication apparatusof claim 1, wherein the communication apparatus is a WiFi access pointor a WiFi enabled device.